Nobman n



(No Model.)

. N. N. GORDON.

Lamp Wick Threader'.

No. 241,535". Patented May 17,1881.

N. PETERS. Phoio'uthngraphar, Wuhlngton, D, C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

NORMAN N. GORDON, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES E. SNOW, OF SAME PLACE.

LAMP-WICK THREADER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,535, dated May 17, 18811,

Application filed October 15, 1880. (No model.)

through the wick-tube ot' the same; and it consists in one or more metal strips formed in a manner hereinafter fully explained, and designed to be passed through the wicktube and grasp the end of the wick and enable the operator to draw the latter through the tube hastily and with ease.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a side View, and Fig. 2 a plan, of the wick-threader. Fig. 3 shows the same partly broken away, one end having been passed through the wick-tube of a lamp and in the act of grasping the end of a wick. Fig. 4 shows the threader after having been drawn partly back out of the tube, the end, with the wick held firmly therein, havingentered the said tube. Fig. 5 shows a modification of the form of the ends of the strips, representing barbs or points.

. As shown in Fig. 1, a and b are two strips of metal, formed alike, save that the former is slightly shorter than the latter, held together, as shown, by two rivets, c. The four ends of these strips are each brought to an edge and slightly turned inward to better enable them to hold onto the wick. The strips are slightly curved, so that the adjacent ends stand away from each other, and when pressed together, the strip a being shorter than the strip b, the inturned ends of the former will close inside of the inturned ends of the latter, as shown in Fig. 4. The strips are bowed at the middle together, forming a loop or fin gerrest, d, to better enable the operator to hold on to the threader while pulling the wick through the tube.

The narrower end of the threader, as shown in Fig. 2, is designed to be made of such width as to pass between the two toothed wheels 0, commonly employed in lamps to raise the wick when it is passed through the tube g. In large lamps sometimes three wheels are employed to raise the wick, on account of which I make the other end of the threader broader and slot it to avoid the middle wheel, as shown in the 5 same figure, when passed through the wicktube.

When being used the threader is passed through the tube g, as shown in Fig. 3, and the end of the wick h placed between the inturned edges. By drawing the threader backward out of the tube the ends holding the wick will be pressed together as they approach and are drawn within the walls of the tube, causing the nipper-shaped edges to become sunken or embedded in the fiber of the wick, as shown in Fig. 4. This causes the threader to hold firmly to the wick while the latter is being drawn through the tube. One of the members, a, of tlleth reader beingmade shorter than the other, as above described, causes the int-urned edges to pass each other when brought together, so that the wick, when grasped by them, as shown in Fig. 4, will be firmly held, but not cut.

Fig. 5 shows the inturned edges formed into teeth or points, which form may enable the threader to hold more firmly to the wick.

The threader may also be made of one piece of metal having but one operating end and bowed at the other similar in form to the ordinary sugar-ton gs.

I claim- 1. A lamp-wick threader consisting of two similar strips of metal, a and 11, each bowed at the middle and held together by fasteners 0 c,'the end of each strip being each brought to an edge and turned inward or toward the adjacent end of the other strip, substantially as shown.

2. Alamp-wickthreaderconsisting of strips of metal a and b, held together by rivets c 0, the ends of said metal strips being brought to edges and turned inward, said strips being joined in the described manner, whereby the 5 said inturned edges pass each other when brought together, substantially as described.

3. A lamp-wick threader consisting of strips of metal a and I), held together by rivets 0 0, the ends of said metal strips being brought too to edges and turned inward, substantially as shown, two adjacent ends of. said strips forming the threader being made broad and bifurcated, substantially as set forth.

' N. N. GORDON.

Witnesses E. B. WHITMORE, M. D. PHILLIPS. 

